UK exit from the EU

On 29 March 2017, the United Kingdom notified the European Council of its intention to leave the EU. The exit modalities are still subject to negotiation. The exit will probably enter into force on 31 October 2019.

Status of the negotiations: In the end of November 2018, the European Council endorsed the Withdrawel Agreement as presented by the negotiators of the EU and the UK, as well as the Political declaration on future EU-UK relations. According to the Withdrawel Agreement, the UK wouldl continue to participate in the Union programmes financed by the MFF 2014-2020 until their closure and persons and entities from the UK will be able to participate in Horizon 2020 until the closure of the Framework Programme and would receive EU-funding as before. This also applies for Horizon 2020 projects with a lifetime beyond 2020. The UK parliament has however rejected the Withdrawel Agreement in December 2018.

To provide for the case of a no-deal exit, the UK government has signed a guarantee to cover the funding of UK participants in Horizon 2020 after the UK exit from the EU. In this case, British entities could participate as third country partners or coordinators and would receive national funding. Collaborative projects in which a UK partner is one of the three required EU-partners, might no longer be eligible under this scenario. The same would go for (ongoing) mono-beneficiary-projects of the ERC or the Marie Skłodowska-Curie-Fellowships.

Please keep in mind that, according to the Horizon 2020 Rules for Participation, institutions in third countries are entitled to coordinate collaborative projects.

The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has created a special inbox for queries and to report issues regarding the UK exit (research@beis.gov.uk). This service is available to UK and non-UK institutions alike.